In this Season 3 kickoff episode of Learning in Lake Oswego, we dive into one of the most innovative and impactful enrichment programs in the district: robotics.
Our featured guests are Lakeridge High School teacher and robotics advisor John Sperry, along with Mila Kaplan, a graduating senior and student leader on one of the school’s four robotics teams. Recorded just before Mila’s graduation and her next chapter at MIT, this episode explores how robotics in LOSD fosters creativity, collaboration, and real-world problem-solving, preparing students for success in college, careers, and beyond.
Tune in to hear how this growing program is inspiring students, building community, and shaping the future of STEM education in Lake Oswego.
Dr. Jennifer Schiele, Superintendent, LOSD
Mary Kay Larson, Executive Director of Communications, LOSD
John Sperry, Teacher, Lakeridge High School, and Advisor, Lake Monster Robotics Program
Mila Kaplan, Student, Lakeridge High School, Class of 2025, and Lake Monster Team Captain
MICHELLE ODELL:: [00:00:00] Welcome to Learning in Lake Oswego, a podcast providing educational insights for an engaged community. Lake Oswego School district superintendent, Dr. Jennifer
MICHELLE ODELL:: Schiele, will discuss what's important to our learning community. She'll be joined by experts examining various topics, answering important questions, and sharing upcoming events and activities you won't wanna miss.
MICHELLE ODELL:: And now it's your host. Lake Oswego School District Executive Director of Communications, Mary Kay Larson.
MARY KAY LARSON:: Welcome to Learning in Lake Oswego, the podcast where we dive into stories, programs, and people that shape our schools and community. I'm your host, Mary Kay Larson. Today here with our superintendent, Dr.
MARY KAY LARSON:: Jennifer Schiele. We are super excited to kick off season three of this show. When we first started, the goal was to give our community a better inside look at Lake Oswego School District through candid conversations with people who know our schools best and care deeply about [00:01:00] education. Over time, the podcast has grown into something even more meaningful.
MARY KAY LARSON:: It's given us an opportunity to spotlight the incredible teachers, staff, and students who make our district so special. It's become a favorite project of Jen and mine. And we're really proud to share our show every other week with all of you. Whether you're brand new to LOSD or have been part of our schools for years, we think there's always something to discover and be inspired by.
MARY KAY LARSON:: Right here in our schools today, we're shining a light on one of the most innovative and impactful enrichment programs in our district. Robotics from sparking creativity to building real world engineering and leadership skills. Our high school robotics teams are preparing students for success in college careers and life.
MARY KAY LARSON:: We're thrilled to welcome John Sperry. He's a teacher at Lake Ridge High School and also the advisor at one of our robotics team teams and Mila Kaplan. She's a standout student in the Lakeridge class of 2025. During her time in our [00:02:00] schools, Mila has served as a team leader on one of our robotics high school teams.
MARY KAY LARSON:: We have four of them. We're recording this show on the eve of her high school graduation because we wanna catch Mila before she heads off to college. MIT. How cool is that? And we wanna just catch all the excitement before she moves on to bigger and better. Jen, let's jump in and get it started. Thank you, Mary Kay.
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Happy first show of the year to everyone. I am so excited to spotlight our incredible robotics program, introducing you to one of the most brilliant students who is coding the future, and a rockstar teacher who can make it all happen with equal parts of caffeine and genius. Our students in the robotic programs are truly the next generation of engineers, creators, and problem solvers.
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: And I feel confident in the future because I know students like this will be leading us. So welcome to the show, everyone. Let's start by having each of you introduce yourselves and could you list, tell us a [00:03:00] little bit about your background, your role in robotics, and what this experience has meant to you.
MILA KAPLAN:: We'll start with Mila. Thank you so much. My name is Mila. Thank you so much for having me on this podcast. I really appreciate it. So a lot of my experience comes from both art, music, and technology. So on the music side, I'm a part of the jazz ensemble and I do jazz piano, which is super fun. And I try to paint and draw in my feet chime.
MILA KAPLAN:: But especially for technology side, I like building on my own. I did some coding back in the day, but now in robotics as the captain and member for four years. I help with fabrication, assembly, overseeing, prototyping. I look over the design. I help with management and time scheduling, as well as overseeing over 45 outreach programs as well.
MILA KAPLAN:: Also founding and leading some of my own as well. So that's been a lot of fun. Yeah. And I'm
Speaker 3: sure now you understand why I'm saying that students like this will be leading us because she is amazing and that is like a full-time job what she's doing. John, how about you?
JOHN SPERRY:: Yeah, my name's John Sperry. I have been.[00:04:00]
JOHN SPERRY:: A teacher at Lake Ridge High School for the last six years, running the computer science program and engineering program, and also having been the coach for the lake Monsters for the last six years. And before that I came from Austin, Texas, and started as a science teacher and then kind of stumbled upon robotics.
JOHN SPERRY:: It was somewhat new then, and saw the the transformation that it could have on not just the students, but the school and the community, and, and rethinking what education can look like in different forms.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So John, can you provide us with an overview of the robotics program here in Lake Oswego?
Speaker 3: And then how has it evolved over the years and what opportunities it offers students across our high schools and maybe even our middle schools in high schools.
Speaker 5: So the, the gold standard for K through 12 robotics. Is the first program and it ranges from FLL, the first Lego League and FLL Junior to First Tech Challenge at middle school level and, and high school level.
Speaker 5: And then FRC at the high school level. [00:05:00] And lake Oswego has all levels. There are literally hundreds of students doing robotics throughout the district.
Speaker 3: That's fantastic. Mila, what. First drew you into joining robotics and then like what's kept you involved throughout high school? 'cause as you mentioned, you're involved in a lot of things.
Speaker 3: So you know, what kept you going with robotics?
Speaker 4: So I actually was first drawn in through one of the outreach programs that our team has. They host Coons every summer. And during C-O-V-I-D-I happened to join on one and code this cute little cat. Pixel game. And I had a lot of fun and I wasn't really doing anything 'cause it was COVID and I was at home and I was like, maybe I should try this when I get to high school.
Speaker 4: And I was doing theater and some soccer for a bit, but I was like, oh, I'll just go to a meeting. And I went to a meeting, I was like, oh my God. 'cause everyone there was so passionate and so dedicated and it was just a whole lot of fun and everyone was super welcoming. So I'm like. Maybe we'll stick around, but like longer down the line, I've put more energy and, and more time and more love into this just 'cause of all the dedication I've seen [00:06:00] on this team.
Speaker 4: This is truly a student driven, student led team and they fight hard to make sure that everything that they do is appreciated and goes far like through the bots and through the outreach programs and me seeing that makes me wanna fight for them as well. So that's been a really big motivator for me staying and fighting for the team.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I love that. I,
Speaker 3: your, I was gonna say your office, but your space is right across the street from my office. Yeah. And these kids are here from, the second school gets out, they're standing at the door waiting to get in till 10 o'clock at night. And so sometimes when I'm leaving really late at night, not thinking kids are out there, that room is still busting and it's, it's so.
Speaker 3: It's a pretty amazing when our kids are, their dedication to it. John, what kind of skills, technical, creative, and interpersonal do you think our students gain from participating in robotics?
Speaker 5: It's pretty overwhelming when you walk in and see all the different activity going on. Once a competition is released, you you'll see students brainstorming, doing points [00:07:00] analysis, talking about strategy, making designs, and then once you, you jump in, you start designing on the computer.
Speaker 5: So there's computer aided design, there's manufacturing where students are learning how to use machine tools, fabrication, metal fabrication. Software. We have multiple levels of software from a writing basic robot code to implementing vision and other peripherals using Arduinos or Raspberry PIs and other hardware.
Speaker 5: So there's a lot of industry standard software tools, techniques, and I think like most importantly, it's the experience of gauging in a large, open-ended project that really emulates the real world.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So much fun for the kids. I mean, that's it, they. They're loving it every time they're over there working together.
Speaker 3: So, Mila, can you describe a moment when a challenge your team faced turned into a breakthrough? Like, whoa, we figured something out. And then what did that experience teach you? I'm gonna
Speaker 4: speak a little farther from the technical side for [00:08:00] this question. Because we kind of have iterations all of the time for tech stuff, like, oh.
Speaker 4: Aside of our robot broke off, we're gonna now stay till 12:00 AM and fix this. And that's pretty typical. But I wanna talk about something that is fairly unique and that was connections. So a really big thing is that Lake Oswego is a bit separated from other robotics team, like geographically like versus other Portland teams where they're all kind of near each other and all their schools are connected.
Speaker 4: For us, for the first robotics competition team, specifically the really large one. We weren't that connected and it was kind of a bit of a struggle. 'cause in robotics you typically try to share parts, strategies, and you work together during games. So connection is a really big thing and that wasn't something that we had.
Speaker 4: So over the past summer, I was really like hammering into the team like, Hey, let's get every single phone number from the p and w teams. There are about a hundred of them, and we got. Almost all of them. And then we created an alliance with some nearby team so that we [00:09:00] could all support each other with resources, administrative support, technical support, everything.
Speaker 4: And that was huge for us because, especially for me, 'cause like a few years back, I was an extremely anxious teenager. And then reaching out to like. Random strangers walking up to 'em at competition, shaking their hand, being like, hello, my name is Mila Kaplan. I'm part of this team. Would you like to help me out with this huge project?
Speaker 4: And then coming together and learning how to practically form a new governmental system for your alliance. We have a voting system. We have an election process. We have a bylaws, we have future plans. We're making a website, everything, all just kids doing that. It really shows how far you can go when you have that drive and confidence to do something.
Speaker 4: And that really high ambition of like, Hey, how far can we go? And I'm extremely proud of what the team has done with this. Yeah, both on the technical and on on the outreach side, it's really shown and I'm really proud of them.
Speaker 3: Yeah. A anyone who's listening out here right now, I would just want everyone to know that I would like to be her agent.
Speaker 3: And, [00:10:00] 'cause I'm very sure people are gonna be trying to figure out how to hire you because you have more skills and talent in your finger, I think, than a lot of adults out there. So it is, it's amazing to hear you speak, John, back to you. So with four or five, sounds like teams across our high schools and middle schools, how do you envision the robotic.
Speaker 3: Program fostering community and collaboration among students district-wide
Speaker 5: Right now, the five FTC teams and, and our, the Lake Monsters FRC team, they collaborate a good deal, you know, sharing knowledge. We've helped out the FTC teams when it comes to electrical skills. Or CAD questions they might have.
Speaker 5: They've like helped us use their CNC router. So there's interactions like that. One thing that I think is amazing about robotics is if you think about subjects like chemistry, like chemistry today is taught very similar to when I taught it 10, 20 years ago, which is very similar to when I took it in high school Technology.
Speaker 5: On the other hand changes so rapidly. And so [00:11:00] how do you, how do you get a lot of new technology in, in, into schools and, you know, just like companies like Merck or Alphabet or Facebook put a lot of money into r and d. It's almost like robotics programs where you bring in outside mentors really have an impact on, on teachers.
Speaker 5: And on students and, and schools as a whole. And and that's kind of like what I really appreciate most about that community that's fostered is kind of that interface that you have with the high tech community that we have So, so much of here in Portland.
Speaker 4: And if it's okay to add on really briefly for the collaboration aspect.
Speaker 4: Aspect with FTC teams, we've actually been specifically working to pass down outreach programs and help support them on some of the ones that they're creating. For example, with FTC team, mostly operational, we've been passing down one of our most longstanding outreach called Power, and that's basically where we go to the hospital Dorn, bank of Children's Hospital and bring the robot and smell kits.
Speaker 4: But the thing with our robot is it's like four feet tall. And that's not the best [00:12:00] when you have really small kids. 'cause it's like you gotta make sure the kids are safe, you know? So the FTC teams with the smaller robots and specifically mostly operational, we kind of pass off that connection and we help them grow up that outreach thing.
Speaker 4: And they've been going a lot and they keep on going back multiple times a year. And that's just great 'cause it's really growing that love of outreach and fostering that love within the Lake Oswego community. And they're even creating a bunch of programs on their own as well and creating more robotics teams out and.
Speaker 4: Joseph County, I believe, and that's been great and we've been working to support that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think what's, and people are probably like, what did she just say? I didn't really understand that, because your outreach is so important to your team and I've, I've, as a superintendent, I've got to hear you all talk about that.
Speaker 3: But they actually go to Dorn Becker's and work with, with children who are in the hospital on robotics and share their love of robotics and how it works. And I mean, that's, that's the type of team that we have here in Lake Oswego. It's, it's pretty impressive. And it's not just one team doing one outreach, as I think you mentioned, there's.[00:13:00]
Speaker 3: Numerous, numerous outreaches going in lots of different directions and, and building kits for, for children all over the world actually.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're actually, yeah, we're expanding international, I believe. So we've sent down stem kits to India, Turkey, and we're gonna start going to Japan, China, Taiwan, and a few other locations as well.
Speaker 4: So that's gonna be really great. But yeah, if you ever want me to just start going off, we have, we truly do have 49 outreach programs and I can start talking about any of them because these are all I know you can, these kids, I've heard you talk. These are student run and it's incredible and we've had like incredible support from our mentors and from Mr.
Speaker 4: Sperry and without them I don't like there's support and also love for outreach has been incredible. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think that's fantastic and it really does make your group very special. So talking about special, your team has had incredibly successful year and years. Can you share a few highlights that you're especially proud of?
Speaker 4: Definitely one of the nicest ones was when we won [00:14:00] engineering inspiration at the district's level. And the way robotics competitions work is that there's three levels. So you compete at. The district, and that's just a bunch against, like around about 30 other teams. And then one team wins impact, which gets you straight to the next level.
Speaker 4: And one team gets engineering inspiration, which also gets you to the next level. And we got that. The district level we were. We were like, okay, we got that. But then at the district championship level, if you win it there, then you get straight to worlds like no matter how well your bot does. And we're like, oh wow, we really, we're really fighting for this.
Speaker 4: And then you're competing against 50 teams for that award. And basically you're competing against some of the top teams in both Oregon and Washington for that. And so we're like. We need to get that award. And we were really worried, but a bunch of teams kept on coming up to us and our to our table, and they're like, we want you to win.
Speaker 4: We love you guys. You're our favorite team. Here's some bracelets. A bunch like this. One Team Swarm gave me like four bracelets. I still have them. They're so cute. It was great. You're like Taylor Swift. Yeah. And [00:15:00] yeah, but then when we won, another team actually got photos of us too, of us winning and I was like.
Speaker 4: And it's like all of us were like freaking out, like and all in a row. And I was, I thank that team for that. You know, it was funny 'cause we gotta do clip arts of our reactions and do art over them. It was really funny. So that was definitely like a really big like relief, like, oh thank God. Oh we got it.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah. But definitely that. And in addition, being captain of an alliance like 'cause robotics competitions work, at least at our level first robotics competition, which is what lake monsters are specifically. You compete on a team of three, and in the finals there are alliance captains, and that means that you have to be one of the top competitors at that competition.
Speaker 4: And at one of our. Previous competitions at Clackamas, we were for the first time in eight years. And that was really cool 'cause we gotta meet with these other teams and then devise a strategy. And actually we were able to defeat the fourth set team, which almost never happens from the eighth set team.
Speaker 4: So that [00:16:00] was really, really cool. And it. It was very fun. We have multiple drive teams. It's kind of like Formula One, where you have like your drive team and then you have the team that builds a car. We have two drive teams and our drive team was all freaking out and it was a whole lot of fun. So it's definitely has the winning and this the really high excitement together.
Speaker 3: And it's fun. I mean, it just sounds like fun and they, and you really do have fun every time I'm over there. Like I said, everyone's laughing and having a good time together and, and they're working really hard too. John, what do you think sets this group apart this year? Not just in terms of maybe competition, but also leadership, teamwork, innovation, all of those things?
Speaker 3: Well,
Speaker 5: one thing that Mila mentioned was. You know that we have a very student driven team. I, I've seen examples of mentor driven teams, like there's one called the Rob Knots who is literally sponsored by NASA and has like four dozen NASA engineers that drive a lot of the activities. So for the six years that I've been involved, you know, we've always had a, a, a student driven team [00:17:00] where our student leaders, our captains get stronger every year.
Speaker 5: We're having more and more leadership positions as the number of students. Growth when I started there were 25 students on the team. Now we have over 50 and we've kind of added more discipline that you'll see of championship level teams, like sticking to project management very strongly so that we can have plenty of time to test and software and driver practice, which is another big part of it.
Speaker 5: You know, you, you need space for driver practice, so we'll, consistently leave the lab so that we can find places to drive the robot around and, and make sure that like, it's not gonna, it's gonna stand up, stand the test of time in a, in a competition environment
Speaker 3: that it's so cool just listening to you talk.
Speaker 3: It's so amazing. It's very, very fun. Mila, you're heading to MIT. Congratulations again. I mean, what an accomplishment. I don't think anyone listening to this show right now is even questioning. How you got into MIT because it is, you were that impressive. But [00:18:00] how has this experience with robotics shaped your goals for
Speaker 4: college or beyond?
Speaker 4: So when I was first looking at engineering, and especially like mechanical engineering, which I was interested in specifically, you kind of think, okay. I'm gonna go work a corporate job and I'm going to, I'm gonna do the, I'm gonna do the job and that's gonna be great. I'm gonna become a mechanical engineer.
Speaker 4: But after having all this experience with outreach, I was leading such a large team and leading other teams and creating like all these huge structures. I'm really thinking like bigger, like what can I do? With my engineering and with my organizational skills to create something like, maybe like a startup of my own, a nonprofit of my own.
Speaker 4: I really want to use the skills that I learned, the technical skills I learned at MIT and all my leadership skills. I'm sure I'll continue to hopefully develop in college to create something that continues to support people long term. And I think that'd be really fun. Like I'm currently leading some projects of my own that I'll continue to work on over the summer that deals with stuff like human trafficking and the prevention of that.
Speaker 4: And I hope that in college. I can go further into that and further into that field and see [00:19:00] what technology can do to help support people around the world.
Speaker 3: I cannot wait to see what you do. It's gonna be very, very exciting. John, kind of similar question from your perspective, how do you think the program a robotics program helps prepare students for the future?
Speaker 3: Whether or not they're gonna be an engineering or computer science or a totally different,
Speaker 5: aside from some of the skills and, you know, technical interpersonal, a lot of things that I had mentioned earlier. I think with robotics competitions, they. Because they're very difficult open-ended challenges that quite literally span several months.
Speaker 5: They're really similar to internships or graduate research projects or, you know, like working at an engineering company. So they, they really emulate the real world. And so there's a lot of like really great things that students pick up from that, like critical thinking skills, communication skills.
Speaker 5: Organization, just kind of the grit of having to like, just think about something for months and months and months and like collaborating and having really technical conversations with not [00:20:00] only you know, other students, but you know the engineers that we have you know, dozen engineers that, that help us.
Speaker 5: So, I mean, it's just they walk away with. Kind of like, essentially a sheltered internship and and all the different industry standard tools and techniques that they learn, you know, really sets 'em apart, gives 'em a, a huge a huge jumpstart when they make it to college.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that grit. The idea of just working hard for such a long time towards a goal.
Speaker 3: And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. And that in itself is a lesson learned for our students. Last question from Mela. What's something most people might not realize about robotics and why is it so valuable that we have this in our schools?
Speaker 4: I would say it's likely is the education beyond the foundation.
Speaker 4: Schools are critical. STEM education within the schools are critical because they teach you. Like the tools for that. Like it teaches you the equation, it teaches you the basic physics, it teaches you all of that. But robotics kids take it and run with it. They do [00:21:00] so much. They take the information for their mentors and they take information from what first robotics tells them, and they go crazy with it.
Speaker 4: I honestly, like the smartest people that I've ever met are on that team just because of how dedicated they are to learning and honing their craft. My friends. When Mr. Sperry was talking about education and computer aided design and everything, I was just thinking to myself and remembering my friends who literally wake up at 4:00 AM and go to like 10:00 PM and we would do that.
Speaker 4: Every Saturday and go crazy and develop technical manuals. They have written textbooks. They have developed AI programs on their own, and the education that we have learned together is phenomenal and can go on their resumes and they take it and develop projects on their own. I'm having conversations with my friends I never thought I could have, and we're like, we're just gonna make this idea work, because we've seen what it's like when we take so many kids that care.
Speaker 4: And work together. I believe that [00:22:00] robotics program has to stay here for as long as possible because the passion that develops here is phenomenal. I've seen so many female leaders rise from this program that you don't see in other places. Tech oftentimes. Women in STEM just doesn't work out 'cause they're overlooked.
Speaker 4: But we've had four female captains in a row and that just shows how much opportunity they have and how much we care about supporting the people that care. So I really hope that this education is supported throughout Lake Oswego for as long as possible, because I really think that supporting passion and drive is what the city is about.
Speaker 3: I love that and I love that you brought up female leadership because as another female in a leadership role, I know it's. Can be very grueling and very difficult to get to and, and our students, our female students keep doing it and so that's fantastic. John, your last question. How can our community continue to support enrichment programs like our robotics
Speaker 5: volunteer to be a mentor or encourage somebody else [00:23:00] to volunteer to be a mentor or helping out with just the huge scope of activities we do.
Speaker 5: We always have a need for not just someone in engineering project management. Software, you know, but business and marketing and planning and events and so many different things like that with 48 different outreach events, you know, there's always interest in, in helping expand those so that we can have a, a, you know, like a bigger sphere of influence.
Speaker 5: And the community and beyond. And then always donating is always helpful.
Speaker 4: Always
Speaker 3: helpful.
Speaker 4: I can add on one thing briefly and of course in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of robotics in Lake Gus, Vigo is of course supportive the bond because I love the bond guys, we've offered that. Because in that is a stipulation to help support.
Speaker 4: STEM and robotics in Lake Oswego for a long time with potential buildings. And if that space is secured, then the dreams of these kids can last for generations. And that's my biggest wish as I graduate. [00:24:00]
Speaker 3: And that is a great wish and we will end it with that. Thank you so much, Mila and John for joining us on the show.
Speaker 3: I know that people are gonna enjoy hearing so much about robotics and good luck in school and thanks again so much for being here.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2: Wow. Thank you, Mila and John. That was fantastic. I will say I had an opportunity to go to a robotics competition a couple years ago, and I have never been to anything like it.
Speaker 2: It was fascinating. I loved it. It was like being in a whole new world and even more impressive in person. So if you ever get a chance to go to one, come out and support our kids, I highly recommend it. But speaking of other places and things to do, Jen, I know we have a lot happening in our schools in September.
Speaker 2: Where will you be?
Speaker 3: Yes, lots going on. The first few weeks of school are always bustling with activities. One of the most important annual events is. Back to school night. So it's an excellent opportunity to meet your child's teacher and principal, hear about the [00:25:00] plans for the year, and connect with other families.
Speaker 3: All of our back to school nights are scheduled for September, and despite a few overlapping dates, the school board and I are doing our best to attend as many as possible. So please say hello. Another important event, this fall is a November, 2025 election. The Lake Oswego Board has placed a bond measure on the ballot for voters to consider as a school district.
Speaker 3: We're committed to providing factual information about the proposed bond and what it would fund. You'll find more details on our district website and in upcoming communications, and there's a volunteer led citizen campaign supporting the measure. They're planning a community rally on September 25th.
Speaker 3: First, while that's a campaign sponsored event, it serves as a good example of how our community stays actively engaged in local schools and public education.
Speaker 2: Sounds like we have a couple of Can't miss events for everyone this September, and we'll share more as we have plenty of shows ahead of us this school year.
Speaker 2: Please continue to listen, follow and like our podcast as we [00:26:00] embark on another season of learning in Lake Oswego.
Speaker 3: Yes. I cannot believe we're starting our third year at this. Until next time, keep exploring and stay engaged. Class dismissed.
Speaker: We hope you found this episode informative and helpful. While our discussions are general, we understand each family's experience is unique.
Speaker: If you have specific questions about your child, please contact your school principal to learn more about the topics we discussed. Ask a question or share ideas for future episodes, please visit osd schools.org and remember to like and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for engaging with learning in Lake Oswego.
Speaker: We appreciate your support and look forward to having you with us for our next episode.